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Fast Woodworker Subject Of Documentary

Fast Woodworker Subject Of Documentary

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT FORT SMITH Duaine Heidelberg, left, stands with University of Arkansas at Fort Smith students Tu Hoang, Sarah Rosenkrans, Kayla Bridges and Angela Gilbert. The students are from UAFS’s Honors International Studies Program and filmed a documentary on Heidelberg, who crafted a bow from a stave of wood in less than a day. The film will be screened Nov. 23-24 at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center before being archived at the Hardwood Tree Museum.

The creative skills of local students and one woodworker merged for a soon-to-be-released film.

Angela Gilbert, Tu Hoang, Kayla Bridges and Sarah Rosenkras, students with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s Honors International Studies Program, recently filmed a documentary on local resident Duane Heidelberg, who created a character bow from a thin piece of bois d’arc wood in only a day. The 15-minute, yet-to-be-titled documentary will showcase Heidelberg’s fast-paced work during a free screening Nov. 23-24 at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center, 8300 Wells Lake Road near the Fort Smith-Barling city line, said Dr. Dennis Siler, UAFS associate professor of English and HISP director.

“Duane is amazing,” he said. “He can pick up a chunk of wood from a woodpile, carve on it and work with it, and hand you a wooden spoon in such a short amount of time. It’s unreal how talented Duane is, and it’s great to see what all he can do.”

Featuring highlights of the six-hour production shoot, the documentary also will be archived in the Hardwood Tree Museum, which will be “an honor” for the students, as well as for Heidelberg and the community, Siler said.

“The documentary will be shown those two days as part of various tree- and woodworking-related demonstrations and activities — Native American woodworking, children’s activities, Duane making wooden spoons and the display of a huge collection of trees from the 1800s — at the nature center,” he said.

“They’re still moving times around for the activities, but we think the documentary will be shown at 10 a.m. both days,” Siler added. “I do know that they’ll show the documentary a couple times each day.”

Working in front of the students’ camera and sound equipment, Heidelberg crafted “an interesting bow,” he said.

“The bow is about the height of the person shooting it — between five and six feet long — and it kind of looks like a snake,” Siler said. “The bow has a bit of a curve to it, so when you look at it from the side, it’s like a perfect arc. But if the bow were facing you, you can see that it follows the grain of the wood.”

As Heidelberg created the bow in front of the students, classic rock tracks and newer songs by Mumford & Sons were pumped from the speakers of nearby stereo.

“I found it interesting and great that Mr. Heidelberg has to have music on while he works,” Siler said. “And it was amazing for us because Mr. Heidelberg was doing several different things the day our students filmed him. He even baked us a loaf of bread after he started a fire and heated the dough.”

Siler then paused for a few seconds.

“Mr. Heidelberg builds houses, and really, he can do anything,” he said. “It’s like he’s the Ozark MacGyver.”